Each fashion week, PUMA ramps up its presence. With collaborations across J.L-A.L., NAHMIAS, and Louis Gabriel Nouchi, creative directors across fashion’s capital city were sending PUMA products galore down their runways—even if audiences were none the wiser.
As menswear FW26 rumbled into life and the sun attempted to come out across an overcast Paris, the great and the good descended between crammed schedules upon what might just become an institution for the week: PUMA’s Suede House.
Suede House is a tribute to PUMA’s enduring silhouette of the same name. This year the Suede—previously the Crack and the Clyde—returns to the shelves of the mainstream. One of PUMA’s more understated offerings that nonetheless proves itself a staple of any wardrobe, the Suede has long existed at the intersection of sport, subculture, and style. Its clean lines and unfussy construction make it endlessly adaptable, whether paired with tailoring, denim, or the looser silhouettes currently defining streetwear.
From stepping inside Suede House, it was clear this wasn’t a nostalgia exercise—despite the archive on display, LED screens, futuristic lighting, and DJ sets from Naomi Clement and Andy 4000 firmly rooted Suede in the now. Different rooms paid tribute to the scenes that inspired the shoe, from basketball through to skateboarding and streetwear communities. Archive models, often signed by the icons that propelled them to fame, were exhibited to take guests through an entire lifetime of the silhouette.
In terms of cultural programming, PUMA stayed true to form, collaborating with a series of publishers and creators who are practically royalty in online circles. There was @samutaro, known for bold, internet-native visual storytelling; @welcome.jpg, an online platform documenting underground style and nightlife; as well as @114.index, which provides, in its own words, "references for functional living". Such a list of co-conspirators reveal PUMA’s aptitude for seeking out what’s most cutting edge and incorporating it seamlessly into its vision.
The celebrations rolled on into the night with the runway reveal of a skeletal, space-age collaboration with British brand J.L-A.L., before shifting back to Suede House for an afterparty that was packed wall to wall. The space pulsed late into the evening, with Fakemink and Skepta among the standout names in attendance.
In revisiting the Suede, PUMA is not chasing nostalgia for its own sake, but reaffirming the quiet power of a design that has never needed to shout to be heard. Get down to the Suede House to see it in action.
The Suede House is open to the public from January 22nd to 24th, at 7 Rue Froissart, 75003 Paris.
